RICHMOND, Va. — Not long after relocating to a bigger space, a local bakery is running out of room again – this time in its oven.
Idle Hands Bread Co. has launched a crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe to buy a new oven that can handle the increasing volume of bread it bakes for wholesale partners and other customers.
Owner Jay Metzler said he’s baking with a modified convection oven that is becoming overwhelmed. He said a new deck oven would allow him to triple production.
“It’s not cut out to bake bread as much as we are. I could keep breaking and fixing it, but it makes more sense to get a new oven,” Metzler said. Metzler’s got his eye on a deck oven made by Italian brand Polin. The GoFundMe campaign has a goal of $15,900, which would cover the full cost of the oven, but Metzler said he hopes to raise at least half of that for a down payment.
“That’s why we went with GoFundMe instead of Kickstarter,” Metzler said, “because if we don’t hit the goal we’ll still be able to use the money.”
The campaign launched Tuesday and had raised $4,000 as of Thursday afternoon. There is no deadline for contributions.
After opening in late 2015, Idle Hands left its first location in Scott’s Addition for 312 Brook Road in Jackson Ward last May, upping its square footage from 200 to 850.
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